Shurangama Mantra with Verses and Commentary

by Venerable Tripitaka Master Hsuan Hua

537. BIỆN ĐÁT LỆ NOA

辮怛隸拏

 

 

Triệu tập hộ pháp chúng thần vương

Tụ hội đàn tiền phó đạo tràng

Liên Hoa Bộ chủ thí sắc lệnh

Tôn thắng tối diệu phóng hào quang.

 

召集護法眾神王

聚會壇前赴道場

蓮華部主施敕令

尊勝最妙放毫光

English Translated by the International Translation Institute

Revised by Bhikshu Heng Shun

 

537. Bian Da Li Na

 

Verse:

 

Summoning the multitudes of Dharma-protecting Spirit Kings,

All congregate in front of the platform and proceed to the Bodhimanda.

The Host of the Lotus Division bestows mandates.

The Honored, Supreme, and Most Wondrous One emits light from his ūrṇā.

 

Commentary:

 

When explaining on the Shurangama Mantra, you must recognize the function and awesome powers of the Mantra. In this line of the Mantra, Vairochana Buddha, as the Dharma Host, executes decrees. And Amitabha Buddha transmits these mandates. You must be clear about this without the slightest bit of pretense. Otherwise, what you lecture will not be genuine and true. To begin with, I wrote these four-line verses for each line of the mantra, but these verses are not meant to be praises. Actually, the Mantra is just this way. Its powers are just as described in the verses. If you think these four-line verses are just praises, then you have not truly recognized the Mantra. This is because praises are usually not completely true. And there are aspects of praises that are exaggerations.

 

Those of you who study the Buddhadharma must clearly recognize this. Otherwise, as it says, “If you are off by a hair’s breadth in the beginning, you’ll be off by a thousand miles in the end.” If you are off just a bit in your understanding of the Mantra, you’ll end up being quite out of tune with the meaning of the mantra and not understand what it is about at all. The words of the Mantra are “True Words,” without the slightest bit of falseness or interpretation. All the lines in the Mantra are the pure, unadulterated truth!

 

When investigating the Mantra, you must know this principle with regard to the verses. If you think my verses are meant to be praises, then you have not yet recognized the Mantra clearly. The Mantra does not need any praises at all, because with or without praises, the Mantra is still the Mantra. Thinking that these verses are praises, is as far from what they actually are as is possible. By having the view that these are praises, one’s knowledge and views are wrong. What the verses depict are its capabilities and power. They explain the Mantra’s efficacy as it truly and actually is. The verses I wrote are my way of seeing the Mantra. I wrote what is true and real. It is what flowed forth from my “inherent nature” based on a thorough understanding of the Mantra from direct knowledge and experience.

 

Summoning the multitudes of Dharma-protecting Spirit Kings.

 

Vairochana Buddha is the Host who sets up the boundary. He issues orders to summon all the multitudes of Dharma-protecting Spirit Kings. Everybody should be serious about these matters and extremely reverential.

 

All congregate in front of the platform and proceed to the Bodhimanda.

 

When reciting the Shurangama Mantra in the early morning, we must be extremely reverential and treat it with the utmost seriousness. One cannot be the slightest bit slipshod or careless. You should be as if you are facing the Buddha or a god, or when before your teacher. When upholding the Mantra, you must be reverent and sincere. One must be extremely reverential and earnest. Without reverence and sincerity, you will not invoke any response from your practice. This is just the way cultivation is. Regardless of whether you are cultivating the Great Compassion Dharma or the Shurangama Dharma, if you are not reverential or if you are lazy, then you will not invoke any response from your practice at all. If you are off by a hair’s breadth in the beginning, you will be off by a thousand miles at the end. By being off just that little bit, you will never evoke a response from your practice. The path between the influence and response will not mesh.

 

The Host of the Lotus Division bestows mandates.

 

Amitabha Buddha is the Host of the Lotus Division, he transmits the Dharma-orders.

 

The Honored, Supreme, and Most Wondrous One emits light from his ūrṇā.

 

(the white hair-tuft between the Buddha’s eyes).